ABILENE - Abilene is on track to its biggest year in history for oil drilling permits, city land agent Travis McClure said.

So far, the Abilene City Council has approved nine oil drilling permits. Bullet Development of Abilene got the OK on Thursday to drill on property south of Diamondback Golf Club that’s owned by Lytle Lake Water Control and Improvement District.

McClure said four more permits are scheduled to be brought to the council for approval in coming weeks, which would bring the total number of drilling permits to 13. In an average year, the city will issue five to ten permits.

McClure said the city has never issued a gas drilling permit, and that the oil found beneath Abilene’s soil is nothing like the stuff in the Cline Shale.

The oil wells in Abilene have a “shallow oil production,” generating about 15 to 20 barrels of oil per day. Each is about 1,800 to 2,000 feet deep, he said.